1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the improvement of a retractable cup holder arranged in a center cluster of an automotive dashboard.
2. Description of the Invention
Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-211079 discloses a cup holder. This cup holder, though it is not shown, includes a housing fixed on the center cluster's side, a slide member carried in the housing so as to be movable back and forth, and a holder body supported by the slide member so as to be movable to right and left. The holder body has one or more retaining holes formed to hold cups for drinks.
The housing is provided, on a bottom wall thereof, with a guide groove for guiding the movement of the holder body. The guide groove is formed so as to extend from the front side of the housing to the rear side continuously. Further, the guide groove includes a groove part slanted to a direction to draw the holder body out of the housing. While, the holder body is provided, on a rear side thereof, with an engagement projection which slides in the guide groove. This holder body consists of a front part and the rear part in the moving direction. The rear part of the holder body has one side portion formed so as to cut away slantingly. Owing to the provision of the slanted side portion, the width of the rear part becomes to be smaller than that of the front part of the holder body.
Therefore, when the holder body is drawn out of the housing in the conventional cup holder, then the slide member is also moved forward in association with the holder body. During this movement, the engagement projection of the holder body slides in the guide groove of the housing from the rear side to the front side. Due to the above slanted part in the middle of the guide groove, the holder body is drawn and slid laterally to the housing, corresponding to an inclination angle of the slanted part. On the other hand, the slide member is simply moved forward. Thereafter, if only disposing the cups in the retaining holes, then an user can use the holding body as the cup holder.
While, in case of pushing the holder body, which has been drawn out of the housing in combination with the slide movement, into the housing, the slide member is also urged into the housing straightly. At this time, since the engagement projection of the holder body does slide toward the rear side of the guide groove via the oblique part, the holder body is accommodated into the housing while following the opposite tracing order, thereby effecting the unusable condition.
According to the conventional cup holder, the holder body is shifted sideways to the housing when the body is drawn out of the housing completely. Therefore, different from a case that the holder body is drawn out straightly, there is no possibility that the manipulation of instruments installed in the center cluster, for example, audio instruments or a shifting lever is interrupted by the presence of the holder being drawn out of the housing.
In the above-mentioned cup holder, however, the drawing of the holder body requires the engagement projection to be slid in the slanted guide groove part forcibly. Consequently, when extracting the holder body from the housing or inserting the body into the housing, the user has been subjected to resistance due to forcible sliding, causing the manipulating feeling to be deteriorated disadvantageously.